T24 Foreign News
Experts say that peanut products, such as peanut chips and peanut butter, should be given to babies 4 to 6 months old to reduce their risk of developing allergies.
According to studies, peanut allergy is twice as common in children growing up in Western countries in the last 10 years. In Britain, one out of every 50 children is allergic to peanuts, and it is reported that 13,000 children develop allergies every year in the country. Peanut allergy, which can be life-threatening, requires allergy sufferers to be careful about what they eat for life.
According to The Guardian, researchers found that peanut allergy is 77 percent less common in children if peanut products are given to babies between 4-6 months.
“You prevent 10,000 children a year from developing peanut allergies. That’s a huge number and a huge opportunity for prevention,” said Graham Roberts, one of the authors of the analysis, professor of pediatric allergy and respiratory medicine at the University of Southampton.
Gideon Lack, professor of child allergy at King’s College, who was involved in the study, said that for many years, doctors have advised parents not to give peanut products to their children at an early age, and then gradually get used to it. Researchers state that the explosion in allergies may have been caused by the doctors’ warning “to meet peanut products late”.